3947 



V 1 

JNIYERSITY OF NORTH CftROLIM 



MEMORIAL HALL 



Inaugural Proceedings 



WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3, 1885 



RALEIGH 
E. M. UZZELL, STEAM PRINTER AND lHNDEl! 

1SS!.-, 



UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA 



MEMORIAL HALL 



Inaugural Proceedings 



WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3, 1885 



RALEIGH 
E. M. UZZELL, STEAM PRINTER AND BINDER 
1885 • 



.7 



UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



MEMORIAL HALL 

INAUGURAL PROCEEDINGS. 



Chapel Hill, N. C, June 3, 1885. 

The Trustees of the University of the State meet this morn- 
ing, on the rostrum in Memorial Hall, pursuant to order, at 
eleven o'clock. Present: 

His Excellency Gov. Scales, ex-officio President of the Board; 

Kemp P. Battle, LL. D., Orange ; 

Richard H. Battle, Esq., Wake; 

Henry R. Bryan, Esq., Craven; 

Col. W. H. S. Burgwyn, Vance; 

Fabius H. Busbee, Esq., Wake; 

Hon. Paul C. Cameron, Orange; 

Julian S. Carr, Durham; 

Capt. James A. Graham, Alamance; 

Maj. John W. Graham, Orange; 

Eugene Grissom, M. D., LL. D., Wake; 

William J. Hawkins, M. D., Wake; 

Maj. A. M. Lewis, Wake; 

Hon. John Manning, Orange; 

Col. Paul B. Means, Cabarrus; 

A. H. Merritt, Esq., Chatham; 

Col. William L. Saunders, Wake; 

Hon. Walter L. Steele, Richmond; 

Hon. Charles R. Thomas, Craven; 

Joseph Williams, Yadkin ; 

John E. Woodard, Esq., Wilson; 

William J. Yates, Charlotte. 



Hon. Kemp P. Battle, LL. D, President of the University 
having called the audience in the Hall to order, announces the 
programme of proceedings for the morning. 

Rev. A. W. Mastgtjm, D. D., Professor^ Moral Philosophy, 
&c, reads the Dedication Ode, which is sung as follows: 

DEDICATION ODE. 
(adapted.) 

Almighty God! Thou only great! 

To thee this house we dedicate; 
Here shall thy wondrous works be shown, 

And here thy sovereign will made known. 

Science and Kevelation here 

In perfect harmony appear,— 
Guiding young feet along the road, 

Thro' grace and nature up to God. 

Help us, O Lord, with faith to lay 

This temple at thy feet to-day! 
O let thy work to us appear, 

Thy glory be exalted here. 

Praise God from whom all blessings flow, 

Praise Him all creatures here below, 
Praise Him above, ye Heavenly hosts, 

Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. 

Prayer is then offered by Rev. Chaeles Phillips, D. D., 
Professor Emeritus of Mathematics, as follows : 

Oh God! Jehovah of Hosts! Our fathers' God! We worship Thee at all times 
for what Thou art in Thyself-f or what Thou hast been to our fathers-f or what 
Thou art to us; and we pray Thee to be the same to our children-that there may 
be of them thousands of generations who fear Thee and keep Thy command- 
ments. We give Thee thanks for the good of which we are witnesses this day 
for health in our bodies; for happiness in our homes: for peace and prosperity 
throughout our land. And we bless Thee for putting it in our hearts to build 
this goodly house in which we may gather, and bring to mind what Thou hast 
giyen to this mighty people-for the light of the knowledge of Thee, and for the 
life that is in communion with Thee. May the memories of Thy servants who 
have spread Virtue, and Science, and Liberty throughout this commonwealth, be 
always strong in the hearts of its people, to keep them from the paths of the 
destroyer! 

For Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. 



Paul C. Cameron, Chairman of the Building Committee, in 
behalf of himself and associates on the committee (Messrs. K, 
P. Battle and John Manning), then rises and addresses the Chair 
as follows: 

Mr. President : —It happeneth not to many men to be called to a College 
or University rostrum just sixty years from the time he ceased to be a pupil 
in its walls, to take part in any public exhibition, unless distinguished for 
great learning, well-founded statesmanship, or moving eloquence. It is cer- 
tainly not the place for one who comes under the worn, tattered banner of an 
old and shipwrecked farmer and planter. £nd of that robust band of boys 
who entered this institution with me, only three survive: J. H. Lindsay, of 
the Greensboro National Bank, W. M. Sutton, of Bertie, (now of the city of 
Norfolk), and myself! Such are the saddening reminiscences of old age, such 
the pebbles picked up along the fading coast line of life! 

As President of the Alumni and as Chairman of the Building Committee, 
I am here by the request of our learned Faculty. The duty has fallen on the 
unofficial and unknown. It might, with the best propriety, have been imposed 
on the distinguished head of the University or some of his scholarly asso- 
ciates ; on a younger and a braver man, with more grace of speech, and one 
more nearly equal to the occasion. But neither within these walls, nor within 
the limits of the State, can be found a heart more toyal to all that concerns 
the entire interest and advancement of this institution than the one that pul- 
sates here. Then, with a cheerful spirit and hopeful purpose, I tender you, 
one and all, a cordial greeting and welcome. It is to me a pleasant duty, a 
willing service, to greet and welcome the sons and daughters of North Caro- 
lina to this completed Hall — dedicated to law, liberty, learning, virtue and 
science. Then, all hail, all welcome, and all greet, the dawning of a brighter 
day for the University of North Carolina ! 

In all truth, my interest and affection for this institution have ever seemed to 
me to have been inherited. When a mere lad — born and reared in the county 
of Orange — associated with its earnest and early friends, I became interested 
in its fortunes and anxious for its future. It was at a secluded farmhouse, not 
twenty miles from this pleasant village, that I, a boy, was first brought in con- 
tact with President Caldwell. It was to that retired home the good man often 
came, in the discharge of the tenderest offices of friendship and the most holy 
of his ministry ; sometimes to visit the sick, sometimes to bury the dead, and 
sometimes to enjoy the luxury of an idle day in a conference with his confi- 
dential friend and trustee. Though of different nativities, creeds, pursuits, 
they moved in perfect harmony in the direction of the interests and affairs of 
this infant and poorly equipped institution. In want of everything, save 
pluck, poverty and parts, the good President, hopeful of the growing intelli- 
gence and liberality of State and people, yielded to no despondency or despair. 
He made the fight for letters and higher education with the spirit, and died 



the death, of a martyr. To him, more than to any one man of the past, do we 
owe this institution — the chief nursery of our youth and the best ornament of 
the State. Can it be that it is the evil that .men do — as declared by the great 
English poet — lives after them, only? Is it not quite as true that the good 
that men do has an equal survivorship? It cannot be that life and immortality 
attaches only to the evil, whilst the good passes into oblivion and is without 
memory. Yonder stately cenotaph on the campus attests the love and venera- 
tion of his pupils, the gratitude of the Alumni Association, led by the active 
cooperation of the then President of the United States and Governor of the 
State. 

Governor Scales, I tender to you a special greeting ! In behalf of the Board 
of Trustees, the Faculty, the Alumni Association, and the generous youth 
here assembled for education, I greet you with the broadest ivelcome. You are 
no stranger here. You have given us the highest guarantees of your prudence, 
wisdom and patriotic purposes, alike in the field and in the halls of legisla- 
tion, which, associated with your sterling merit and stainless private life, have 
won for you the good will and confidence of the people of your native State. 
who, in a recent election, declared you their Governor by 20,000 majority — a 
just reward for such a life. Honor to the brave ! confidence to the virtuous 
and true ! As the Chairman of the Building Committee I now surrender to 
you, as President ex officio of the Board of Trustees, this completed Hall as a 
part of the" property of -the University, with the same confidence that the 
people of North Carolina committed to your care and keeping their State 
Capitol, with the State's archives, its charitable and penal institutions, its good 
name and Great Seal. 

It is proper that I should here announce to you and the public that at the 
Annual Commencement of June, 1883, a resolution was submitted to an unusu- 
ally full Board requesting the appointment of a committee from the Alnrani 
to solicit contributions to a fund to provide a monument similar to that erected 
to Dr. Caldwell, and to be placed near it, to commemorate the services of the 
late President David L. Swain, who, for thirty-three years, had directed the 
interests and affairs of this institution with such conspicuous and marked 
ability. No monument had been erected here to his memory. This was to be 
charged to no want of gratitude or of full recognition of his services, but to 
the embarrassed condition of the Alumni and the more pressing demands on 
the Association, and above all to the transfer of the property for ten years to 
unknown men. We earnestly wished to place one on the campus, near to 
Caldwell's, the two to stand as watchful and equal sentinels of the fame and 
fortunes of the University of North Carolina. This resolution was adopted 
with great unanimity, and the committee appointed by the then President of 
the Board, Governor Jarvis. 

At that same Commencement, June 1883, on the rostrum in the College 
Chapel, in the presence of a large audience' more than the Chapel could seat, 
Governor Jarvis, in the most emphatic manner, declared for larger accommo- 



dations— in fact, a new Hall — to be erected during his term of office. At a 
meeting of the Trustees held in the city of Raleigh in July, Governor Jarvis 
proposed that the Board of Trustees and the Alumni Association should unite 
their efforts in the building of a Hall equal to our present and in anticipation 
,of the wants of the future ; to substitute a Hall for an obelisk. This propo- 
sition was so characterized by good sense, so entirely in accord with our needs, 
that no issue was made as to the propriety of the proposition, with only this 
reservation : that the Alumni should be pledged to no specific sum. This was 
promptly accepted by Governor Jarvis. In his words: "Get what you can 
from the Alumni, pay it over to the Treasurer of the University, and we will 
try and pull through." He was in earnest, he was excited by the high-born 
purpose to succeed. It was his tongue that first declared for Swain Memorial 
Hall ; it was his hand that drew the ordinance ordering its erection. As 
Governor of the State, he promptly tendered the Building Committee convict 
labor for the making of brick at Chapel Hill, or to deliver to us brick at the 
gate of the State prison, we paying the freight. A visit to the Penitentiary, 
an inspection of the brick — uniform in color, smooth and of very hard mate- 
rial — soon settled the question that it was alike to the interest of the State 
and of the University to take the brick and pay the freight to the seat of 
the building. At once Governor Jarvis gave the order for the delivery of the 
brick on the cars, and the corner stone was laid on the 25th of September, 
1883. So that this Hall has been erected in part by the State, the Board of 
Trustees, the Alumni, and the contributions of the liberal sons and daughters 
of North Carolina by a uniform subscription for tablets. And it is believed 
that all debts for labor and material have been paid, save that to the State 
for brick. 

And now, without disparagement to any of his distinguished predecessors, 
I but express the opinion of his associates in the Board, that no man was more 
in earnest or patriotic in his purposes for the improvement and equipment of 
this institution. He held that we had nothing in North Carolina from which we 
should expect so much as from this institution, if intelligent, useful and active 
men "constitute a State." During the six years that I sat with him in the 
Board of Trustees, he was ever at his post and never hesitated a moment in 
his duty. Knowing the wants of the institution, he was ever ready with good 
sense to give the best direction to all affairs. When he took position he was 
reliable as guide, and to be trusted when he assumed a leadership. Com- 
mencing life as a plow-boy, with limited advantages of early education, he 
advanced himself to the Chief Executive office of State, received nearly a 
unanimous endorsement of the Legislature for a seat in the new Cabinet, and 
now represents this great Republic with the Emperor of Brazil. It is a fortu- 
nate selection for both Governments. Jarvis will soon be a favorite at that 
Court. He is a man of the Emperor's own style. During the Centennial in 
Philadelphia Dom Pedro, in the course of a month, often came under my 
observation. He is a pleasant, genial, progressive, thinking man. He means 



work. For fifty years he has ruled with wisdom ; he attends to his own affairs ; 
he looks after little matters. He sent home ship loads of railroad and fire 
engines, models, tools, and every labor-saving machine, equal to two millions 
of dollars, the product of our shops. If we can meet his conceptions he will 
open wide the gates of trade and offer us untold riches. It is said that our 
sprightly politicians at Chapel Hill, who are to be our future leaders, diplo- 
mats and envoys, express the opinion that in less than two months after the 
arrival of our Ex-Governor at the Court to which he is accredited, we will 
have a "swapping of knives" with Dom Pedro, to the mutual advantage of 
both parties, resulting in a proposition of mutual exchange, in which the Brazil 
coffee will be offered for the North Carolina roe and cut herring, on the basis 
of a nominal taxation. With successful negotiations and treaties of recip- 
rocity with the leading South American States will cease the wail at our teem- 
ing abundance and over-production in the field, the mills, and workshops and 
forges. A market will be made that can hardly be estimated by any line of 
figures. 

The best wishes of the people of North Carolina go with our Ex-Governor, 
in grateful recognition of his successful administration of our State affairs 
and his watchful care of this institution ! 

During the winter of 1883-'84 the work on the building was suspended. 
The supply of funds'from the Board of Trustees and the Alumni ceasing to 
come in, a question arose as to the prosecution of the work on the building in 
the spring of 1884. A suggestion was made that an appeal be made to the 
representatives of those who had been associated with the institution in the 
past, and who, by honorable lives, either civil or military, were deemed 
worthy of commemoration within these walls by placing neat and well execu- 
ted white marble tablets to the memory of such distinguished citizens on the 
walls of this Hall in the order of their period of death. The thought prom- 
ised well, and in the results exceeded our expectations, considering the work 
of death, the loss of property and the changed condition of our people. Much 
of that success is due to the selection of President Battle and Prof. Winston, 
as well known representative men of the University, to canvass the State and 
collect subscriptions to tablets. That canvass was conducted with equal zeal 
and propriety, either in person or by letter, and to the entire satisfaction of all 
concerned, ninety-eight in number. To these are added tablets to Presidents 
Caldwell and Swain, Professors Mitchell and Phillips, at the cost of the Board 
of Trustees, as a testimonial of their respect and veneration for these valuable 
and aged officers. To these are added four tablets, ten feet long and two and 
a-half feet wide, on which are inscribed the names of "the University Con- 
federate dead," a roll of 260 names. These tablets are erected in loving 
remembrance of their heroic purposes and devotion to State and section. At 
the head of the list stands the name of Leonidas Polk, the oldest Alumnus of 
the University of North Carolina lost in the war between the States — a Lieu- 
tenant-General of the Confederate States Army, and late Bishop of Louisiana. 



Thus this Hall will not only be equal to the needs of the public, but furnish a 
concise and reliable history of the State, perpetuating the names and memory 
of its most useful sons and distinguished citizens and inspiring the youth of 
the State with new-born desires for letters and learning and to make a mark 
and a name among men. 

Two remarkable features stand out most prominently in the life history of 
our College. First, its conception and its origin. Born of our first Constitu- 
tion, amid the first throes and upheavals of the Revolution, is it not a marvel 
that the men who had but just entered upon a long and protracted struggle 
with the mother country should then have resolved to provide for a higher 
education? And when, at the close of the war, exhaustion had so completely 
done its work ; when the country lay, as it were, panting for breath, pressed by 
want of almost everything needful for human comfort, without resources, save 
those extracted by the rudest agriculture from a virgin soil; when the spin- 
ning-wheel and hand-card were the sole reliance for clothing; without a press 
to declare the wishes or the purposes of the people ; is it not a great marvel 
that the men of the Revolution should, in the fundamental law of an infant 
State, have declared for the establishment of a University on the broad basis 
of providing instruction " in all useful learning"? Does it not declare the 
highest type of fortitude and manhood? Whence came this lofty purpose — 
this love of learning and of letters ? Unquestionably it had its origin in the 
Scotch-Irish element occupying the midland belt of the State. The early 
emigrants and settlers of this people brought their preachers, who also filled 
the office of teachers for the young. Tradition informs us that the most popu- 
lar and best sustained of these nurserits of the young were located in the 
influential counties of Iredell, Mecklenburg, Guilford and Orange. It was 
from these nurseries came the desire for higher education that formulated 
the article that decreed a State University. Doubtless the granting of a char- 
ter for William and Mary, and for Harvard, by the royal prerogative of the 
mother country, and the refusal of a like charter to Queen's College, at Char- 
lotte, in Mecklenburg, during the Colonial government, angered the hornets, 
fired the resentment of the Revolutionary patriots, and quickened their action 
in the blessings of liberty under the shield of the new-born Republic. 

The other feature to which I refer as a prominent one in the life of the 
University, is the remarkable fact that for seventy years its fortunes were for 
so long a period committed to the care and direction of two individuals in the 
persons of Joseph Caldwell and David L. Swain. 

For the gratification of those who never saw him (and that embraces a verv 
large part of this audience), I will here present a short pen and ink sketch of 
the good man, as I saw, and as I now remember him. Dr. Caldwell was intro- 
duced to the Board of Trustees and the people of North Carolina by Mr. 
Charles Harris, of Cabarrus county, N. C. Whilst he wag a student at Prince- 
ton he had made the acquaintance of Caldwell, either as a student or a tutor — 
most likely the latter, for their personal intercourse was so slight that Dr. Cald- 



10 



well scarcely remembered that lie had ever seen his correspondent at Chapel 
Hill, Mr. Harris, then a tutor in this infant institution. To me this seems the 
most marked exhibition of Mr. Harris's estimate of worth and character in so 
young a man, and stamps Caldwell as a man of mark at a very early day. 
And to Mr. Charles Harris we owe a lasting debt of gratitude for such pene- 
tration. For services so fortunate and so extended he richly deserves the per- 
petuation of his name and services by a tablet on these walls. Caldwell, in 
agreeing to come to Chapel Hill, acted on the advice of his best informed 
relatives and friends, and even after he had taken leave of his duties and 
friends at Princeton, halting in the city of Philadelphia, he was invited by 
his distinguished friend, Dr. Green, a leading Presbyterian Clergyman, to 
occupy his pulpit, and he made so favorable an impression that inducements 
were held out to him to remain in the city with a view to taking charge 
of a congregation there. He rejected it and continued his journey to his 
destination at Chapel Hill. There he remained to the end of his days, in 
labors most unremitting, living a life of self-denial, surrounded by a popula- 
tion not in sympathy with his pursuits, and the students here assembled rude 
and uncultured to a degree hardly to be believed by one who has not marked the 
mile-stones in the progress of our education, civilization and comfort. What a 
contrast between Dr. Caldwell's life here, with his bullies and gladiators, and 
Dr. Battle's orderly, gentle, well-mannered and generous youths ! Often have I 
looked on with fear and apprehension as to the results and personal conse- 
quences to the good President. The good man was as cool and deliberate as 
he was fearless. I have often thought that, like Stonewall Jackson, his faith 
in the protecting care of Heaven made him equal to any fortune Brave old 
President ! What trials he suffered, and how like a grieved father he bore 
himself! In looking back, how vividly do I recall the chief actors in some of 
those unpleasant upheavals and volcanic eruptions of college life. I should 
violate all propriety to give the names of those who so blackened their college 
lives; but, as a warning to others, "their lot let no man choose." Neither in 
public nor private life did any of them attain to any eminence, and at least two 
died with their boots on. Here, in the then obscure village of Chapel Hill, 
in such insubordination, he lived, a President, a preacher, a teacher and a 
bachelor! Was it not a martyrdom to duty ? 

Marrying first Miss Susan Rowan, of whom, as well as of an infant daughter, 
he was deprived three years afterward by death, subsequently associating 
himself in marriage with the honored name of Hooper, he became a land- 
owner and a slaveholder, thus makiug his citizenship in North Carolina com- 
plete. A man small of stature, quick in motion, light in his step, he was every 
inch a man — born to control, ever equal to his office and his duty. From this 
he never asked relief. With his loins girded and his armor on, he was ever 
ready for his work. Did the State fail to provide funds, did the South Build- 
ing stand uncovered for two years at the second story, he volunteered to collect 
money for its completion. Not in term-time, but in the six weeks' vacation 



11 



in the summer of 1811, in his stick-stilkey, he canvassed the State. Having 
headed the list by a substantial subscription, he brought home and paid over 
to the Treasurer of the Board $12,000, with which it was completed. 

Did time allow, I could recall many pleasant memories of President Cald- 
well. In 1824 he was requested by the Board of Trustees to go to Europe for 
making additions to the libraries and to the chemical and philosophical appa- 
ratus. A trip to Europe was not then a summer jaunt of a week. In his case it 
consumed nearly a year. From New York he, by letter, announced the proba- 
ble day of his arrival home. A welcome was resolved on — a brilliant illumina- 
tion of the College buildings, the first and only one ever made. It is now a 
pleasant memory to recall the procession to his modest home and the hearty 
cheers that were given as he stepped out on the floor of his back piazza, from 
whence he was conducted to the front of the South Building, and from a stand 
near the well he returned his thanks for the pleasant welcome, addressing the 
students with the affection of a long-absent father returned to his home and 
duties. His heart was full and his emotion most manifest. His labors con- 
tinued only ten years longer, and in January, 1835, in his little brick office in 
his yard, his sufferings and his life ended. 

The death of Dr. Caldwell deeply moved the intelligence and sympathy of 
the citizens of North Carolina. All felt that a great benefactor had been 
removed. He was old — he was a great sufferer — death was looked for — yet, 
when men met and looked each other in the face, came first the anxious ques- 
tion, " Who will take his place?" Not many men have died in this State more 
honored whilst living, or reverenced when dead! 

The appointment of his successor was felt by the Board of Trustees as a 
grave and anxious duty. Gentlemen eminent for learning and piety at home 
and abroad were presented for the position ; but, to the surprise of the State 
at large, the Board, with but few dissenting voices, tendered the Presidency 
to the then Governor of the State, David L. Swain, whose term of office was 
about to expire, and in January, 1836, he entered on the duties of his high 
office. He was chosen, not for his scholarly attainments, but for the character- 
istics of the man — his zeal, his industry and success in all his labors, his intense 
devotion to the State, and acknowledged executive ability. It was thought 
that one who had shown himself so successful in the management of men, 
would not be less so as a manager of boys. In three sessions of the Legisla- 
ture he had m ade himself the leader of the House of Commons ; he had enjoyed 
a lucrative practice at the bar, and had been elected to the Superior Court Bench 
over ex -Judges and able lawyers who were in full practice before he was born ; 
he had been elected Governor of the State at an age younger than any man who 
had preceded him, and in all had sustained himself with marked ability. He 
entered on the discharge of his new duties with the same industry and energy 
that had marked him in all other departments. The Trustees soon realized 
the wisdom of their selection, and the public, with his learned Faculty, recog- 
nized his capacity and pronounced for the new President. He gave a new 



12 



impulse to the institution: the number of students largely and rapidly in- 
creased, the Faculty enlarged, the course of instruction extended, the finances 
improved ; large and handsome additions were made to the College buildings, 
with large and ample provision for Libraries and Society Halls; the Campus was 
enclosed and ornamented by walks and shrubbery, and the village prompted 
to improvement in its streets, avenues and dwellings — all responded to his 
untiring efforts. Making himself the master of his office, his recitation room 
became most attractive by the brilliancy of his lectures, the fascinations in 
political economy, history, constitutional and international law. He was a 
great learner — he made himself a great teacher. His learned Faculty and 
Board of Trustees seconded him in all his purposes with increasing confidence, 
and all moved in hopeful harmony. It was his boast, that during the four 
years of war the College Bell never failed in its daily calls, that the Faculty 
was ever in place for duty, and " that all grew fat on sorghum and corn bread ; " 
that the institution was maintained in full working order. But the shadows of 
a dark night were falling around him and his colleagues and the object of his 
and their care. A special Providence seemed watchful to save these old ser- 
vants of our State University from the humiliation of a painful exile from 
homes, honors, labors, offices, and altars. Professor Mitchell had fallen on 
rest in the deep and dark chambers of the Black Mountain. Professor Phil- 
lips had laid down with his harness on, upon the rostrum of the Chapel, for 
his long sleep, whilst the students were assembling for morning prayer. Presi- 
dent Swain, in visiting a small farm in preparation for the comfort of his 
small family of old servants, was, by an accident, fatally injured. Lingering 
a few days, his useful life and well-rounded labors were closed in charity and 
kindness to all, but with anxious fears for the future of an institution that he 
had loved so long and served so well. He knew that new and unknown men 
would soon be placed in charge. 

Pleasant is the memory of such a man to the people of North Carolina, and 
they silently rebuked the punishment of a man without a crime and a Faculty 
without a stain, and in fortitude submitted to the inevitable and passed their 
sons over to the care of the undisturbed institutions of learning of our sister 
State of Virginia. This Hall is erected to commemorate his services and to 
stand as a memorial to all others who have been associated with this insti- 
tution, and who by honorable service, either in civil or military life, are 
deemed worthy of commemoration here ! 

Whom have we here? How shall I group them? in clusters, or name the 
bright particular stars — those who have been most conspicuous and efficient in 
their services in the care of this institution? Time does not allow of any 
extended detail, but it may interest the public to know what class of men have 
been marked by tablets on these walls : 

Of officials, 

One President of the United States. 

Twelve Governors of the State of North Carolina, and one of Florida. 

Four Chief Justices of the Supreme Court, and three Associate Justices. 



13 



Eleven Judges of the Superior Courts, and one Judge of the United States 
District Court of Florida. 

Four members of the Revolutionary Congress before the Constitution. 

Six United States Senators after the Constitution. 

Fifteen members of the United States Congress — House of Representatives. 

Three Ministers to Foreign Courts. 

Four Attorney-Generals of the State. 

Two Presidents and nine Professors of the University. 

Six distinguished Chiefs of classical schools. 

Nine officers of the Confederate States Army — General George B. Anderson, 
General Grimes, General Pettigrew, Colonel W. Avery, Colonel C. M. Avery, 
Colonel Isaac Avery, Major Engelhard and Preston Mangum, and Colonel 
John L. Bridgers. In mind and merit, in manly fortitude and patriotic pur- 
poses, these field marshals of North Carolina were the equals of those of the 
great Napoleon. 

Six leading and successful lawyers — not politicians. 

Six eminent and successful physicians. 

Of enlightened successful men of business, not known in official or politi- 
cal life, eleven. 

Of individuals I must be very brief. First, let me name the sturdy old 
Orange county farmers, known in the history of the corporation as the " Donors 
of the land" on which the University and the village of Chapel Hill is located, 
and which fixed unquestionably the seat of this institution on this beautiful 
eminence. They number eleven — not quite a full jury of the freeholders of 
Orange county. Erected by the Board of Trustees, in grateful remembrance 
of their generosity and wisdom, a tablet records the names of 

1. Christopher Barbee. 

2. James Craig. 

3. John Daniel. 

4. John Hogan. 

5. Edmund Jones. 

6. Matthew McCauley. 

7. William McCauley. 

8. Hardy Morgan. 

9. Mark Morgan. 

10. Alexander Piper. 

11. Benjamin Yeargin. 

These "donors" have long since passed beyond the thanks of men; but it 
should ever be a source of pride to their descendants and representatives that 
their ancestors were the chief and original creators of this cherished institu- 
tion of our State — now its light and pride ! 

But duty and justice require that I should name first, however briefly, the 
great leader, as an individual, in the organization of this institution — its great 
central pillar of support — William Richardson Davie. He it was who drew 



14 



its charter. He was the chief advocate, before the people and the Leg- 
islature. He it was who came np on a bright twelfth of October day 
in 1793, clad in the regalia of the Grand Master, surrounded by the chief 
men of the State, and laid the corner-stone of the old East. He had 
been a dashing and gallant officer of cavalry, associated with the re- 
nowned Light Horse Harry Lee, under General Greene, in his masterly 
retreat through the Carolinas into Virginia, ending so disastrously to Corn- 
wallis in his rout and expulsion from the State. He became conspicuous 
in civil life — as an able lawyer and an orator of vast influence, the asso- 
ciate of Washington and Franklin. He was ahead' of his times in the 
advocacy of broad and liberal education. It was on him that President 
Caldwell leaned for direction and support in the infancy of this institu- 
tion. Judge Murphy describes this great central figure of his times, Gen- 
eral William Richardson Davie, whom he had often seen and heard! He 
represents him as "a tall, elegant man in his person, graceful and command- 
ing in his manners ; his voice mellow and adapted to the expression of every 
passion ; his mind comprehensive, yet slow in its operations when compared 
with his great rival ; his style magnificent and flowing. He had a greatness 
of manner in public speaking which suited his style and gave to his speeches 
an imposing effect. He was a laborious student, arranged his discourses with 
care, and when the subject merited his genius, poured forth a torrent of elo- 
quence that astonished and enraptured his audience." Judge Murphy says: 
"I was present in the House of Commons when Davie addressed that body 
upon the bill granting a loan of money to the Trustees for erecting the build- 
ings of the University, and although more than thirty years have since elapsed, 
I have the most vivid recollection of the greatness of his manner and the 
power of his eloquence on that occasion." General Davie was afterwards the 
Governor of the State. In June, 1799, he was sent as Envoy of the United 
States to the Court of France, and an eye-witness declares that he greatly 
excited the admiration of the Emperor Napoleon. On his return from France 
he became a candidate for Congress in the Halifax District. In this he was 
defeated. Parting with his interest in North Carolina, he removed to his 
estate at Landsford, on the Catawba River, leading the life of a planter until 
December, 1820, when he died in the 64th year of his age. That tablet is 
placed to his memory by a generous woman, of no blood or affinity to Davie, 
but in the high admiration of the elegant gentleman, the gallant soldier, the 
leading Trustee, the constant friend and benefactor of this institution. His 
classic face, on canvas, now may be seen in the Hall of the Dialectic Society, 
of which it is a cherished ornament. And in this work of preserving and 
perpetuating the names and memory of our honored dead, woman, blessed 
woman, hath done her full part! 

General William Lenoir was of the original Board of Trustees of the Uni- 
versity of North Carolina, and the first President of that Board. His long 
and useful life was given largely to public service. In his early frontier life 



15 



in Western North Carolina the. white settlements were perpetually harassed 
by the invasions of the Cherokee Indians ; and tradition has it that he said of 
himself, "that, winter or summer, he slept three in a bed — his wife on the left 
he in the middle, and his rifle on the right." He was often called at a mo- 
ment's notice to pursue these marauding parties in the hope of chastising them 
for their depredations committed on the whites, and no man was so familiar 
with the accessible passes of the mountains, and no one more successful. At 
the brilliant achievement of King's Mountain he was wounded in the arm 
and in the side, and a third ball passed through his hair. He was at the 
defeat of the celebrated Tory, Colonel Pyle, near Haw River. In this engage- 
ment he had his horse shot and his sword broken. Between the Indians and 
the Tories he had a sharp and active military experience. He was a brave 
and meritorious officer. He served for many years in both branches of the 
State Legislature, and during the last five years of his service in the Senate 
he was unanimously elected its Speaker, which office he filled with great accep- 
tability. For many years he was elected a member of the Governor's Council 
of State, and always its President. He was a member of both State Conven- 
tions that sat upon the Federal Constitution, an active participant in the 
debates, cooperating with the Conservatives. Without the advantages of edu- 
cation, a self-taught man, he was an acknowledged leader of wide influence. 
Given to hospitality, his manners plain and simple, he displayed wonderful 
powers of mental and physical ability, active and useful to within a few days 
of his death. He died at his lovely home in Happy Valley, in the 88th 
year of his age, and is interred in the centre of old "Fort Defiance" on his 
own farm. It is in honor of him that the respectable county in Eastern North 
Carolina bears its name. In the interest of education, and for his services in 
civil and military life, he surely deserves commemoration on these walls. 
The annual report of the Committee on the Condition of the College for 1885 
is from the pen of his worthy grandson and representative, Colonel Walter 
Lenoir, who wears a gallant soldier's badge.. 

On the reorganization of the University, and its restoration by the Ordi- 
nance of the Convention to the true sons of the State, public opinion desired 
the appointment of the late Governor William A. Graham to the Presidency; 
but, when the matter was pressed upon him in the Board, he shook his head, 
saying, " It is impossible." " It cannot be !" Few as were his words they were 
full of meaning. The good man seemed to know that his work in life could 
not long be continued. He coveted not the honors of earth, he desired chiefly 
those quiet pleasures derived from the consciousness of 'duty fully performed. 
But he was never more in earnest in any work than in the re-organization of 
this instil ution after ten years of abandonment during which, though with 
a fully organized Faculty, no paying student ever entered its doors! The 
course had been abandoned and the young coursers sent off to a higher and 
more trustworthy training. 

It was to fill the office of President that Governor Graham felt the most 
solicitude. After a most careful survey at home and abroad within the South- 



16 



ern States of all the material, he declared for President Battle. The endorse- 
ment by one who had made so few mistakes, who had been so long a recog- 
nized leader in courts, councils and cabinets, closed the question, and Mr. 
Battle was selected with but little show of opposition. Mr. Graham's fears 
were relieved, and he became, day by day, more confident of the wisdom of 
his selection. It was on him that Governor Swain during his long adminis- 
tration of affairs was wont to lean and take direction, and Governor Graham 
felt the full weight of the responsibility he assumed in his personal action in 
the Board. To-day it is not as the learned lawyer and advocate; the champ- 
ion of constitutional and honest government; the urbane and satisfactory pre- 
siding officer of popular and legislative assemblies; the colleague of Mr. Man- 
gum, both representing the county of Orange, and at the same session of the 
Legislature, and both elected as Senators in the United States Congress ; nor 
as a cabinet officer, nor as an arbitrator in questions at issue between great 
States ; nor as one of the Trustees chosen by the London Banker to take 
charge of the largest benefaction ever bestowed by an individual upon an 
impoverished and exhausted people for the purposes of education : Not to 
one nor to all of these do I to-day propose to allude. It is of the model 
and pure boy, the manly, conscientious, modest and diligent student in this 
institution, respected, beloved and honored by his fellows, enjoying the smiles 
of his superiors and the unqualified approbation of his Instructors and the 
entire Faculty, a member of the most intellectual class ever upon the rolls at 
this institution after a full review of all, ranking with Dews, Manly, Sims, and 
Harford as the first. Standing and at rest, he was the most attractive youth I 
ever saw, and as he advanced to manhood he became my ideal of the noble- 
man. Boy or man, in private or in public life, his conduct was regulated by 
the highest sense of honor and the most exact sense of duty. From the cradle 
to the grave, his was a stainless name. The recipient of every honor that he 
ever sought that the people could bestow save one, he seemed the favorite of 
fortune. But it was the grandeur of his moral nature that passed him un- 
harmed through a long and eventful life. He was in truth a model, and 
to-day, after a full review, I am unable to name one who as a native of the 
State is more worthy of the imitation and admiration of the youth of the 
State. With him the proprieties of life associated with youth, or old age, 
seemed to attain a perfection and maturity that made it pleasant to look on at 
all times, even in the repose of death. 

Boys at the same institution of learning ; in manhood neighbors and friends ; 
in old age, a trusted counsellor; in death I mourned him as a brother ! 

I am not able to recall one of more intense interest and devotion to his 
Alma Mater than Mr. B. F. Moore. His devotion was remarkable, and his 
gratitude intense. It is believed that he is the only one of the Alumni who, 
by his last will and testament, bestowed upon it a valuable legacy in 
money, and which was promptly paid by his legal representatives. He and 
his classmate, Judge William H. Battle, of the Supreme Court, were the 



17 



largest contributors to the resuscitation and repair fund upon the reorganiza- 
tion of the institution. In all questions of interest involving its credit, its 
titles, its finance, the investment of its funds, he sought to control, and was 
confided in, and the humiliations, misfortunes, bankruptcy and degradation 
that overtook it filled him with indignation, bitterness and painful solicitude. 
He was a man who had, in a pre-eminent degree, the courage of his opinions, 
and uttered them with a force and fearlessness that gave them a quasi judicial 
authority. Learned and accurate lawyer as he was, he never wore the ermine 
or sat on any bench ; but the most eminent of our Court of Appeals ranked 
him as the equal of any who did, and it is believed that his professional 
rewards and emoluments were larger perhaps than, those of any one of his gen- 
eration in North Carolina. Often has he entertained me with the lights and 
shades of his college life: how grandly he marched through the recitations in 
the languages taught in the first and second years of his college life; how deep 
and suddenly he went under when he struck the mathematical course of the 
Junior year; how he wrote to his father and appealed to him to take him 
home and place him behind the plow. His father refuses, and tells him to make 
known his difficulties to his Professor. He hands his father's letter to Dr. 
Mitchell, who invites him to his study and gives him instruction by the use of 
his knife and a piece of white pine, cutting for him blocks of mathematical 
figures, to be used in the demonstrations of his propositions. Turning the 
light on him in this way, he was enabled to continue his course with satisfac- 
tion, and taught the difference between the faculties of the mind, memory and 
reason. To the end of his life he blessed Dr. Mitchell for his kindness, 
and said that he had not the language to express his obligations to his father 
and the University for all that he was, for'his escape from a life of obscurity ! 
Several tablets are absent from this Hall of eminently useful men in the 
service of this institution, who deserve commemoration here. But one is 
absent that makes a great void in the list of our distinguished dead — Colonel 
William Polk, of the City of Raleigh, the last surviving field officer of the 
North Carolina line, long an active and efficient Trustee, educating his numer- 
ous family of sons at this institution. He was the "cotemporary and personal 
friend and associate of Andrew Jackson," not less heroic in war, and quite as 
sagacious and more successful in private life than he. It is known that Colonel 
Polk greatly advanced the interests and enhanced the wealth of the hero of 
New Orleans by information furnished him from his field notes as a surveyor 
in his selections of valuable tracts of land in the State of Tennessee: That to 
Ezekiel Polk, the father of the President, he gave the agency of renting and 
selling the immense and valuable estate in lands in the most fertile section of 
that State: That as first president of the Bank of North Carolina, he made 
Jacob Johnson, the father of President Andrew Johnson, its first porter. So 
that of the three native North Carolinians who entered the White House, 
through the gate of Tennessee, "all arealike indebted for benefactions and 
promotion to a more favorable position in life to the same individual — a man 



18 



whose insight into character rarely admitted of the selection and never of the 
retention of an unworthy agent." 

In the building of this Hall the services of Samuel Sloan, the Architect, were 
at once secured, a man of genius and most favorably known throughout the 
country. By reason of his exposure to our summer's sun in the very great 
heat of 1884, he sickened and died at a most critical period of the work. 
This seemed to place the enterprise in much peril, but he had placed Mr. 
John Daugherty, of Philadelphia, in charge as chief carpenter, who has 
shown himself equal to the work, and we desire to express to him in public 
manner our thanks for his successful prosecution of the work to completion in 
the most creditable manner. I commend him to favor. And in the like man- 
ner we would express to our old neighbor and friend, Captain Richards, the 
brick-mason, our grateful thanks for the zeal and skillful manner in which 
he has executed his difficult and novel job to our entire satisfaction. With 
his own hand has he placed every tablet, without the use of an inch of metal 
of any sort, and it is believed that they can only be removed by destiuction. 
The honest work of a true man ! 

By reason of the increased appropriation of the Legislature at its late ses- 
sion as recommended in Governor Jarvis's Message, the Board of Trustees 
will soon be called to increase the number of professors, thus widening 
or extending the curriculum. Change is in the air ! Fashion has its con- 
trol, its empire is everywhere. Universities seem Actual or Ideal. Such 
education must ever be the results of perfect leisure and of great wealth, or 
the offerings of large benefactions to genius and to poverty. Universities 
come of great age and wealth. In a country so new as our own, we have 
neither the wealth nor the leisure for an extended " University Course," and 
if we had both, we must be controlled by the laws of nature and necessity. 
Human life and college or university life is too short to embrace the circle 
of all knowledge. Recall the wisdom and the words of the old song, to bring 
us under the rule of common sense : 

" Could a man be secure 
That his days would endure 
As of old for a thousand years, 
What things might he know ! 
What deeds might he do ! 
And all without money or cares." 

We have but span-long lives: how short the step from the cradle to the 
grave; nothing ideal in that. Three score and ten is the declared measure of 
our days! As population and wealth multiply and increase we must have 
larger and more minute divisions of labor and experts in all. He will attain 
the best results, who can make the best response to the questions — What can 
I do ? What ought I to do? What may I hope for ? 

But I must forbear in this direction. We have of late had much crude 
discussion as to what constitutes a University ! Without any worry "amid 



19 



the prejudices or the past " of " old England or New England," let us look 
to that one nearest to us, that has filled so large a place in the public favor 
and confidence, and whose Diploma is so certain a passport to high service and 
employment— the University of Virginia. By letter of November 24th, 1824, 
the Rector, Thomas Jefferson, and the Visitors report to the then Governor 
of Virginia, James Pleasants, the organization of the University: That it 
shall be instituted with eight professorships! or schools! 

1. One of Ancient Languages. 

2. One of Modern Languages. 

3. One of Mathematics. 

4. One of Natural Philosophy. ■ 

5. One of Natural History. 

6. One of Anatomy and Medicine. 

7. One of Moral Philosophy. 

8. One of Law. 

This he announces as "his University!" Not more extended than that of 
the University of North Carolina. Mr. Jefferson having closed his match- 
less public life returned like the eagle to his chosen home on his lofty perch 
at Monticello. Neither rich nor poor, he hungered not for the flesh-pots of 
Egypt; he was no worshipper of Mammon ; he coveted not the gilded badges 
of the millionaire; he sighed not for the purple and foaming vintage of La 
Belle France, nor was it essential to his comfort to breathe continuously the 
rich aroma of the old Don's fascinating Havana. He held that large cities, 
with their courts of commerce, traffic and trade, were great ulcers on the body 
politic, and to be avoided. Content with his grand record, the Ex-President, 
nncorrupted by the fascinations of political or court life, devoted the golden 
evening of his time on earth to the work of a sage and philosopher — to the 
building up of a well-ordered University as a nursery for the youth of his 
much-loved Virginia. Crowned with public favor and confidence, and 
conscious of an immortal place among the sons of men, he lived not for self 
or the doubtful and damaging pleasures of luxury. The great thought of his 
heart and mind was the swelling grandeur of his country. The chief pleas- 
ures of the great Virginian were in the fields of intellectual labor — in the 
interests of humanity and of generous and aspiring youth. In the quiet cham- 
bers of his ever-to-be-remembered home, shadowing his well-established Uni- 
versity, he awaited his end. In the 84th year of his life — on Independence 
Day — a cloudless 4th of July morning, 1826, he died. The coincidence of the 
death of the elder Adams on the same day — illustrious fellow-laborers 
leaving the world together, "borne upward by the outspread arms of a 
nation," with the blessings of millions and the prayers of millions commend- 
ing them to Divine favor — men thought a canonization by Heaven. And 
among the private papers of Mr. Jefferson was found a memorandum contain 
ing the desired inscription for his unpretending monument: "Thomas Jeffer- 
son, author of the Declaration of Independence and of the Statutes of Virginia 
for Religious Freedom, and the Father of the University." 



20 



Can earth surpass it! Seeking what may be accomplished for the practical 
needs of our University and people, let us seek to make it more of the useful 
than the ornamental — not by wide, but deep and exact learning promising us 
the richest fruitage, with good material in the hands of thorough masters. 
Unquestionably, in North Carolina, fathers and mothers are seeking with 
anxious care the best instruction alike for sons and daughters as they have 
never sought before. Let us have no bitter or hateful rivalry in our schools 
and colleges. Let merit win. Maintain no drummers in the field, no humbug 
in the school, no fraud in education. Of our University let.us be full of hope. 
Located amidst the blue hills and bubbling springs of perfect health in the 
heart of our State ; surrounded by a frugal, laboring, orderly and improv- 
ing white population, with new tokens of public sympathy and interest; served 
by an earnest, conscientious Faculty ambitious to excel in their work ; con- 
trolled by a Board of native citizens of the State, who should protect it from 
all evil from within and without, may we not anticipate for it a fortunate 
future? And looking down the vista to distant generations, may we not hope 
that at each returning Annual Festival, to this rostrum the learned men of 
genius, of all pursuits, will come, unfolding the garnered and hidden treasures 
of the past ages — from the wide domain of philosophy and history, the curious 
wonders and riches of science and the utilitarian arts, the force and grandeur 
of mechanism and mechanics — displaying the first flowers of earth, the best 
gems of the sea — with the rational hopes of a blissful immortality. And from 
this rostrum the young eagles of this Southern land, brave in their own self- 
reliance, with their wing upon the wind and their eye upon the sun — upward 
and onward and true to the line — will seek the best aims of human life and 
share the richest rewards of human ambition! 

Esto Perpetual 

Governor Scales, ex officio President of the Board of Trustees, 
then formally accepts the Hall in the following terms: 

In behalf of the Trustees, whose repiesentative I am on this occasion, I 
accept at your hands this magnificent structure, and in their name and in the 
name of the great State of North Carolina, 1 this day solemnly dedicate it to the 
high and holy purpose for which it was erected. You have told of the honor- 
able action and resolute purpose of our patriotic Ex-Governor. You have told 
us in words that will not soon be forgotten the difficulties that beset the Build- 
ing Committee at every step and in part how they were removed; of the 
resources of the learned Faculty and the success that crowned their efforts; of 
the aid and comfort that came from devoted and impoverished Alumni, and 
from many other noble citizens of the State; but you have not told, and I can- 
not tell as I would, that a man aged seven years beyond the allotted three score 
and ten of man's existence, one of the surviving members of the Freshman Class 
of 1823, cheerfully assumed the supervision and guidance of this work, and well 



21 



and nobly did he discharge his duty, oftentimes at the sacrifice of his own pri- 
vate business. The cost of the building proved to be greatly in excess of the 
estimates and the actual resources of the Trustees. At times the work was sus- 
pended for the want of money; every appeal was made and every resource 
tested to its fullest capacity and there was no adequate response; the most 
sanguine of our friends grew despondent; money was scarce, business stagnant, 
and the friends of the University poor; disaster, if not failure, stared them in 
the face. It was then that this aged son of the University stepped forward 
and, without security, advanced the necessary means out of his own pocket. 
Our credit was saved, the Hall was completed, and we to-day, by means alone 
of this well-timed generosity, occupy and enjoy it. Need I tell you that that 
man was the venerable Paul C. Cameron ? It is the work of his old age, a 
fitting cap-stone to a long life of honor and usefulness. The Board of Trus- 
tees have shown their high appreciation of his services in the shape of a 
unanimous and highly complimentary order, which will stand upon its records 
as long as the University itself shall stand; and to-day I but reiterate, its sub- 
stance when, in the presence of this vast assembly, I tender to him the thanks 
of the Trustees, the Faculty, the Alumni and of the great Commonwealth of 
North Carolina! 

This Hall, in the original design, was intended as a Memorial of Hon. 
David Lowry Swain. He was a most remarkable man and his life was a 
bright illustration of what can be accomplished by energy, industry and 
singleness of purpose. He was born January 4th, 1801, in the county of 
Buncombe, and reared to manhood amid the lofty peaks and wild scenery of 
that mountain home. He read law with Judge Taylor at Raleigh, and at 22 
years of age was admitted to the bar. At the age of 25 years he had been 
three times a member of the General Assembly. In 1827, when he was 26 
years of age, he was made Solicitor of Edenton Judicial District, and resigned 
after one circuit; was again elected to the Legislature in 1828 and 1829, and 
in 1830 was elected a member of the Board of Internal Improvements. The 
same year he was elected to the position of Judge of the Superior Court, a 
very high and honorable position, especially when we remember that the elec- 
tion was by the Legislature and the tenure for life. This position he resigned 
in 1832, after he was elected Governor. In 1835, while Governor, he was 
elected a member of the Constitutional Convention, and during the same year 
was elected to the position of President of the University. Thus we see that 
in twelve years after he was admitted to the bar, and thirteen after his majority, 
he was five times a member of the General Assembly, once a Solicitor of a 
Judicial District, a member of the Board of Internal Improvements, a Supe- 
rior Court Judge, Governor, member of the Constitutional Convention, and 
President of this University ; holding twelve high and most responsible offices 
in twelve years, going up by regular gradation until he had reached what 
seemed to be the goal of his ambition, and what is universally conceded to be 
the most important, if not the most honorable position in the State. Hitherto 



22 



he had been engaged in laying broad and deep the foundations of Republican 
institutions in framing, construing and executing the organic and statutory 
laws of the State. Now he addressed himself to the still higher and more 
delicate duty of training the youth of the land and fitting them to be Legis- 
lators, Judges and Governors, and, above all, good and useful citizens. One 
is a work for time and must perish with it, if not before; the other is a work 
for time and eternity, and will live on in immortal youth unhurt "amid the 
war of elements, the wreck of matter and the crash of worlds." This was his 
pride and this his greatest work. In his start in life he had neither money, posi" 
tion nor influence, nor was he one of those on whom all the gods had set their 
seals, and yet there was that in him which gave assurance to all that he was a 
man. There was a tradition in College when I was here that when he first 
came to Chapel Hill he was a green, awkward mountain boy, and was early 
selected as a fit subject for the sport and ridicule of his associates. On one 
occasion, as the tradition has it, he was surrounded by a crowd of idlers, who 
insisted that he should take a text and give them a sermon. He demurred 
and begged that he might be spared such profanity, but their importunities 
increased, until yielding to the demand, he asked their serious consideration 
of the text to be found in Matthew xx — 6 verse: " Why stand ye here all the 
day idle?" and as he reasoned with them in all the earnestness of his soul, of 
duty neglected, opportunities wasted, of temptations that lie in wait for the 
idle, of hopes disappointed and parental hearts crushed, one by one they stole 
away until the young preacher discovered that he was left alone, and then 
raising his voice and pointing his finger in the direction of the retreating 
audience, he shouted, "Go ! go! in the name of our common Creator, I bid 
you go work in His vineyard. He promises a penny a day each, and to my 
certain knowledge not one of you is worth half the money!" Such a sermon 
at such a time is relieved by its truth and earnestness of all features of pro- 
fanity, and I am assured that few sermons were ever preached at Chapel Hill, 
so noted for preaching ability, that accomplished more good ; but as good as it 
was, there is no intimation that he was ever asked for another. He at once 
became a leader among the boys, as he was afterwards among men, and now 
could I have my will, I would have this text inscribed high upon this Hall, 
so that it would be read from every direction, and by all : " Why stand ye here 
all the day idle?" " Go work in my vineyard ;" and thus I would perpetuate 
the sermon and make the tradition written history. The design was after- 
wards changed, and. in my mind, most happily and justly. The names of 
Caldwell, Mitchell and Phillips stand side by side Avith that of Swain and are 
justly made to share with him the honor of making this one of the first insti- 
tutions in the land. In addition to this, upon its walls are inscribed the 
names of other good and great men of the State, now in their graves, who 
were in some way connected, as pupils or otherwise, with the progress and 
fame of the University. Here you may read the biography to a large extent 
of the State's illustrious dead. Here you may read her own proud history — 



23 



for the history of a State is but the biography of her sons. Here the aspiring 
youth may find illustrious examples to guide aud cheer him in every walk and 
occupation of life. Whether we consider her heroes, her jurists, her states- 
men, her orators, her clergymen, her physicians, her scholars, her scientists, 
her merchants, her mechanics or her farmers, each presents a class not to be sur- 
passed in the annals of any State, and taken together they make, as you have 
so well said, sir, a galaxy which will do honor to the name and fame of North 
Carolina in all time to come. In the late war her sons filled every position 
in the army, from Lieutenant-General down to the humblest private, and no 
higher examples of heroic daring and devotion to principle can be found in 
the history of that war on either side. 

The Trustees have also set apart, at their own expense, a place in this Hall 
for the honored names of those of her heroes who fell in the late civil war, 
and there is no spot around which we love to linger so much as this sacred 
spot. Here is a noble army of martyrs. It is headed by Leonidas Polk, the 
holy Bishop who left the altar to throw himself and his life across the track 
of the invaders of his country. He was a man of whom any people, State or 
church might be proud ; upon his brow all the gods had set their seals, to give 
assurance to the world that he was a man. An anecdote is told of him and 
well authenticated, as illustrative of the impression which his appearance and 
bearing made upon those with whom he came in contact. Just prior to the 
war the Bishop was in Vicksburg, and as he entered a hotel then in charge 
of MaeMackin, a famous hotelist in that day, was greeted most respectfully 
by Mac, whom he had never before met. "How are you to-day, Governor?" 
"You are mistaken, I am not the Governor," replied the Bishop. "Judge, 
then," said Mac. " No, not Judge." "Senator." "Again at fault," said the' 
Bishop; " I am none of these, I am simply Bishop of the Episcopal Church." 
" Ah !" says Mac, " not far wrong ; I knew you were at the head of your pro- 
fession." Consecrated to God in the work of the Gospel, he sacredly adhered 
to his holy mission until duty called him to the defence of his home and his 
State. To these he gave his life and died a glorious martyr. 

Further on I observe another name. It will not be invidious to mention it 
That name is J. Johnston Pettigrew. In 1846 I joined the junior.class. One 
short session terminated my connection as a student with the University. 
There were three names that preceded mine in the division of the class, Petti- 
grew, Pool and Bansom, the three most brilliant men in the class. Pool was 
awarded the second distinction, and in any other class would probably have been 
among the first. He afterwards occupied a seat in the Senate of the United States. 
Bansom, a distinguished soldier in the late war and at present our distinguished 
Senator, divided the honors of the class with Pettigrew, but it is no injustice 
to him and is a very high compliment to Pettigrew to say that the valedictory 
was awarded to his competitor. I have been a long time in life and mingled 
much with the world, but have no hesitation in saying, that in intellectual 
endowment and power of acquiring knowledge Pettigrew surpassed any man 
I ever met. In the difficult mathematics of the junior year it was understood 



24 



that he was a session in advance of his class, a majority of whom were taxed 
to their utmost capacity to keep pace with the regular recitations. But what 
is more remarkable still he was equally distinguished in all his classes, in his 
society and on the play-ground. He was first everywhere and in everything, 
and second, as I remember him, in nothing. Added to all this his character 
was without reproach. Modest and brave, generous and honorable to the last 
degree, he was the pride of the Faculty and the pet of College. After 
graduating he removed from his native State to return to her in her adver- 
sity at the breaking out of civil war, and offered up his life in her defence. 
Here, too, as everywhere else, he stood in the front rank of the able and 
accomplished officers developed by that war. Many of them believed he 
had no superior, and before General Lee was selected urged him as the Com- 
mander-in-Chief of the Army. I have been informed by one who heard it 
and is now present, that Governor Swain, shortly after the war, at a meeting 
of the Board of Trustees, the last perhaps he ever attended, spoke with pride 
and pleasure of the alumni of the University, and as he enumerated one after 
another of these distinguished sons until he had reared a monument of great- 
ness and excellence of which any institution might be proud, he declared that 
high, pre-eminently high, above all these names, and as a fitting crown for so 
noble a work, he placed the name of J. Johnston Pettigrew. Nearly twenty 
years have passed, and when one hundred more shall be added to them I doubt 
not that his words will be as true as on the day when uttered. 

These are the men named and unnamed who are commemorated by this 
Hall. This is the work that makes the University the pride of the State and 
the glory of her people. This building may crumble into dust, every other 
may become a heap of ruins, but such a work as this will live as long as time 
shall last, and by its inherent power, if continued, will restore, if need be, the 
buildings and perpetuate the University. The past is secure; the Faculty and 
students must take care of the future. You have, sir, most kindly alluded 
to my selection and the high trust so generously committed to my hands. 
I thank you, and in response will simply say that my highest aim shall be the 
good of the State, and that in my opinion her chief good must depend largely 
upon the growth and progress of her University, her colleges and her schools. 

Mr. Eugene Grissom, Chairman of the Special Committee 
heretofore raised to prepare resolutions expressive of the high 
appreciation of the Board of the valuable services to the Univer- 
sity rendered by ex-Governor Jarvis, makes report at this time, 
according to instructions, as follows : 

Whereas, by the expiration of the term of his office, as Governor of North 
Carolina, the Board of Trustees of the University of North Carolina will be 
deprived of the services of the Honorable Thomas J. Jarvis as ex-officio Presi- 
dent of the Board and Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Trustees : 



25 



And whereas, It is eminently proper that the Board should place upon 
its records an expression of the profound appreciation entertained of his 
important labors in behalf of general education in North Carolina, and espe- 
cially the University ; therefore be it 

Resolved, That the Board of Trustees gratefully acknowledges the valuable 
persevering and successful efforts of the Honorable Thomas J. Jarvis to 
extend the usefulness and assure the lasting prosperity of the University 
throughout the period of his service as Governor of North Carolina. 

Resolved, That without attempting an enumeration of his labors, freely and 
constantly contributed, the Board desires to record its thanks in an especial 
manner : 

1. That in every Message transmitted to the General Assembly during six 
years of administration by Governor Jarvis may be found an earnest appeal in 
behalf of the University, and the most cordial commendation of its people. 

2. For his constant attendance upon the semi-annual meetings of the Board 
of Trustees, and the frequent meetings of the Executive Committee, and his 
wise counsels while presiding over their deliberations. 

3. For the encouragement afforded by his prompt and regular attendance 
upon the annual exercises of commencement and the stimulus of his inspiring 
words and judicious advice to the Faculty, the students and the public. 

4. For the existence of Memorial Hall, which, erected at his suggestion, 
forms a lasting monument to perpetuate the achievements and memories of 
its former Faculties and Alumni who fell in the service of the State on the 
field of battle, or who contributed otherwise to the fame of North Carolina in 
other fields of usefulness or renown. 

5. And lastly, for his very efficient aid in securing the very timely appro- 
propriation made by the last Legislature for the support of the University, 
and the enlargement of its facilities for instruction, the broadening of the 
field of its operations, and the elevation of its capacities for good. 

- Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be suitably engrossed and hung 
in the library of the University ; and that a copy of the same be forwarded 
to the Honorable Thomas J. Jarvis. 

EUGENE GRISSOM, 
PAUL B. MEANS, 
JAS. L. ROBINSON. 

The resolutions having been read Mr. Grissom supports them 
as follows : 

Mr. President: — I have the honor to propose the resolutions which have 
been read in your hearing, expressive of the sentiments of your Committee 
upon parting with the distinguished member of our Board who has so long 
presided over its deliberations. 

The rehabitation of the University of North Carolina was the step indis- 
pensable to the future prosperity of the State. It was the foremost movement 



26 



in the genuine reconstruction of the future from the ruins of the past. It 
contained the principle and potency of the highest intellectual life of genera- 
tions to come. You are familiar with the clouds that hung about this impor- 
tant undertaking. You recall the poverty of the people, the indebtedness of 
the State, the apathy of the popular mind in regard to education, the slow 
progress painfully achieved by the most determined efforts of a few lifelong 
friends, and the general feeling of uncertainty attending its future. No one 
will stand in this presence and utter a word that fails to do justice to the 
superb courage and admirable management of the President and his colleagues, 
and of the ardent and faithful Alumni and other friends who were never 
wavering in the hour of need. 

But we are especially proud to-day to acknowledge the invaluable services 
of a patriot who, from the period of his occupancy of the Executive Chair 
down to the hour of his kindly farewell, gave his resolute, intelligent and manly 
support to every proposition to add to the resources and to advance the use- 
fulness of the University. In this he had no political ends to serve; he had 
no personal objects to accomplish ; he had not even the memories that warm 
the heart and nerve the resolution of an alumnus whose early days of boyish 
ambition were spent in these halls now sacred to his past. Nor did he fear 
the possible danger of popular clamor and reproach. He saw that the intel- 
ligence of a harrow island gathered the treasures of mankind into its coffers, 
while its flag dominated the old world. He saw that the great and leading 
States of this Union were the homes of learning and the schools of science. 
He felt the justice of Jefferson's declaration, that his noblest epitaph would 
be "Founder of the University of Virginia." He felt that the very heart of 
a State was its nursery of statesmen. 

Striking the key-note in his inaugural address before the General Assembly 
in which he pledged his best efforts to the advancement of education in our 
midst, he never faltered. Always ready, always earnest, judicious, penetrating 
and wise in his counsels, he patiently and perseveringly sought the good of 
the institution for which he had grown to cherish the love of an adopted son 
for his foster-mother. Again and again, publicly and privately, he sought to 
extend the the means and widen the influence of the University, always with 
the prudence and practical sense of propriety which distinguished his judg- 
ment. 

As a mouument of his association with the fortunes of this institution the 
magnificent edifice which We have just dedicated to our heroes and scholars 
will always remain, the fruit of his suggestive foresight and resistless will. 

There is a happy fitness in the thought that the erection of this great Wal- 
halla, in which are gathered so many memorials of our best and bravest sons 
of fame, shall be indissoluble joined to the reputation and name of the modest 
soldier who bears the bullet-mark of the foe, but whose humble military title 
is lost in the splendor of a civic crown. When in future years the stranger 
shall seek the names of Carolina's great men on these hallowed walls; when 



27 



tablet and portrait and statue shall tell the tale of those who have lived to 
adorn the history of the Old North State, to bless her people and to sound 
abroad the clarion trump of her fame, not the least shining among that group 
of immortals will be the name of Thomas J. Jarvis. 

And not the smallest monument to his fame or the least claim to our grati- 
tude is his success as one of the illustrious irio to whose efforts we are mainly 
indebted for the connecting railroad link between this seat of learning and 
other parts of the State, and which places high upon our roll of public bene- 
factors the names of Colonel A. B. Andrews and General E. F. Hoke. 

May I be pardoned if I linger a moment in contemplating the addition to 
the University of this superb Hall, which the genius of the lamented archi- 
tect has constructed to be almost without a peer in its own peculiar sphere, 
and may I remind you of the debt of gratitude due* not only to the statesman 
who conceived the idea, but to the patriot whose liberality rendered it possi- 
ble to embody that idea and make it a lasting and complete success at the 
moment when necessity threatened embarrassment and delay pointed to reproach 
upon its anxious and zealous founders. 

I hope it is not indelicate to express our pride that a distinguished member 
of our own body, whose history is forever linked with that of the University 
in its brightest pages, when the progress of the work was about to be arrested 
for the want of funds, came forward with magnanimity and gave the aid of 
his private means to the extent of thousands to accomplish the desired end 
without any guarantee or security other than his faith in you and his reliance 
upon the honor of North Carolina. It pleased a gracious Providence to add 
a quarter of a century to the life of Peter Cooper after he had completed his 
three score and ten years, that he might enjoy the sight of the blessings he 
had bestowed. Need I ask you to join with me in invoking length of days 
and all prosperity to Paul C. Cameron, that his eye may long witness what 
his hand hath wrought ! The heroic Gordon, that Paladin of our day, is to 
be commemorated, not by statue or column, but through a great hospital on 
the soil of Egypt, near the international canal, where the sick and wounded 
of all nations may be healed — a striking and brilliant contrast of the modern 
spirit of Christianity with the useless pyramid of Cheops near by, that great 
monument of the ambition of a vain dynasty of kings and the miseries of their 
enslaved and impoverished subjects. Happy the man whose name is linked 
with the great hospitals of charity, the schools of art and the Universities of 
learning designed to bless and enlighten mankind. After two and a-half cen- 
turies Harvard's name is the most potent spell in Massachusetts, while the 
kings of his era are forgotten, except by the curious scholar. Johns Hopkins 
will be honored when all the chief men of mere wealth or political power in 
Baltimore have passed out of remembrance forever. After nine centuries 
Oxford stands to tell the tale of its gratitude to Alfred the Great. 

Learning keeps jealous watch and ward over the fame of her benefactors, 
and to the long line of her illustrious patrons may the University of North 
Carolina add the names of some who are now living and manv vet to come. 



28 



Mr. Paul B. Means seconds the resolutions, saying: 

Mr. President: — By request, and with very great pleasure, I second the 
resolutions. It always pleases me to endorse the invariably good work of our 
illustrious friend who has presented the resolutions. And, although he has 
presented them in the name of the Committee, every one here recognizes the 
resolutions, in toto, as the work of one particular, finished artist. And it 
especially pleases me to endorse the resolutions as a most deserved tribute to 
him to whom they refer, and to the greatness of the people of North Carolina. 

We call those men great who speak words, do acts, and advance ideas and 
measures calculated and tending to promote the prosperity and happiness of 
a people. But such men are only the creatures, never the creators, of an 
Augustan age or its blessings to humanity. Such men, their words, their acts 
and measures, and their very age itself, with all its events important enough 
to mark it an epoch in history, are the resuits of social progress among the 
people; they are the results of the continual, grand, onward, irresistible 
march of educated, enlightened public opinion ; they are the developments of 
that "germ of reason and virtue which God has sown in the blood of the 
human family." All great men are merely evolutions of past ideas and expo- 
nents of the living thought and spirit of their time. All great men are simply 
evidences and products of the greatness of their people. And every merited 
tribute to the greatness of any individual in any age, like this splendid audito- 
rium and "Memorial Hall," which Governor Jarvis originated and was a 
main factor in erecting, stands as a monument to the greatness and progress- 
iveness of the people. 

Washington, Luther and all the great heroes of civil and religious advance- 
ment and liberty, and all the great leaders in every cause for the welfare of 
man, could not have been heroes or leaders at any time before they were. If 
the greatness of their individual intellect and spirit, as a phenomenal wonder, 
could have existed sooner than it did, and without its propagating causes and 
antecedents among the masses, they, earlier in history, would have been pow- 
erless. For, the age and the people would not have been ripe and ready for 
their labors. They were the creatures of movements which began long before 
they were born, and the utmost that they, as individuals, could do, was to put 
in operation what others had taught, and repeat in louder tones the lessons 
which they had learned from the people of the past and the people around 
them. 

And this is said, especially in the case of Governor Jarvis, as no slight 
honor, as no grudging praise to individual greatness. For the difficulties and 
obstacles such men have to encounter and overcome are always immense: 
because of the laggards in intellect and spirit and energy about them ; because 
of the statesmen and politicians and others of the opposition who are "wiser 
in their own conceit than seven men who can render a reason." 

But such men are always great because they are foremost among their fel- 
lows in the march of time; because they have the intellect and soul to grasp 



29 



and be inspired with the genius of society and their day; because they fully 
comprehend their age and do not betray it; and because, under this inspira- 
tion from their C4od and their people, they make the revolutions of progress 
"march onward and orderly beneath their eagles." 

In this sense only have men been great. In this sense the subject of these 
resolutions is great. His public life, in every station in which he has stood 
under the great eye of the people, declares him such. His gubernatorial 
administration, in the very much that he has said and done for the great 
causes of education, agriculture, internal improvement, and all the vital 
interests of North Carolina, proclaims him great. And as such he, and his 
administration will occupy a prominent and a lasting place in the history of 
our State. 

I most heartily second the resolutions as a tribute to the greatness of t lie 
people of North Carolina as exemplified in the greatness of Governor Jarvis. 

The question then recurring upon their adoption, the Chair puts 
the question, and the resolutions are unanimously adopted. 

Mr. Fabius H. Busbee, Chairman of the special committee 
heretofore raised to prepare resolutions expressive of the grateful 
sense of the generous conduct of Hon. Paul C. Cameron in com- 
ing to the rescue of the Trustees in their great extremity, and 
furnishing them with funds to complete Memorial Hall, (also 
under instructions from the Board to report at this time), then 
makes report as follows: 

It is becoming that the Trustees of the University shall place upon their 
records an expression of their appreciation of the liberality of the public- 
spirited citizen who came to the rescue of the University at its time of need 
and secured the erection of Memorial Hall; therefore, be it 

Resolved, That the Trustees tender to their colleague, Hon. Paul C. Came- 
ron, of Orange, their hearty thanks for the loan by which the completion of 
Memorial Hall was effected, and also for the personal supervision which he 
has given to the work from its inception — instances, and by no means the only 
ones, of his uniform devotion to the University and to North Carolina. 

In submitting the resolutions, Mr. Busbee, in view of what 
had already been said touching the subject matter of them by 
Governor Scales and Dr. Grissom, asks that the resolutions be 
put upon their passage without discussion, as needing neither 
comment nor explanation. 

The question then recurring upon their adoption, the Chair 
puts the question, and the resolutions are unanimously adopted. 



30 



The following ode, written by Mrs. Cornelia Phillips Spencer, 
is then sung, viz : 

THE TJIQ-IVERSIT-S- ODE. 



Dear University, 

Thy sons right loyally 

Thy praises sing ; 
For thee, our Mother dear, 
May every coming year, 
Fresh-crowned with joy appear, 

Fresh honors bring. 

Heaven blessed the genial ray 
Of that October day, 

When at thy shrine, 
Under the poplar shade, 
Their vows our fathers paid, 
Thy corner-stone they laid 

With rites divine. 

That blessing hath remained, 
Dishonor ne'er hath stained 

Thy record fair. 
Still Carolina's pride, 
Still with her best allied, 
Her sons from far and wide 

Still boast thy care. 

Fair may thy hours roll on, 
As, numbering one by one, 

Thy tuneful bell 
Now rings for duties done, 
Now calls to honors won, 
Or, for the comrade gone, 

Tolls out a kuell. 

O ! Thou, whose promise nerved 
Our fathers when they served 

For Liberty. 
Still be their children's God, 
Still with Thy staff and rod, 
Show us the path they trod, 

The path to Thee. 



The Board then adjourns until 9 o'clock to-morrow morning. 
" Esto perpetua." 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

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